Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life. The proud have me in great derision, yet I do not turn aside from Your law. I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself. Indignation has taken hold of me because of the wicked, who forsake Your law. Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. I remember Your name in the night, O Lord, and I keep Your law. This has become mine, because I kept Your precepts. (Psalm 119:49-56)

Hope And Life Is In The Word

There is only source of hope when facing affliction and that must come from the word of God. Since the beginning of time the Creator has revealed to the creation all the answers to life by revealing through the word His divine will. Whether orally delivered or written down, God’s word has been the only source of comfort man can find when he faces the many challenges of life. The wisdom of man is weak compared to the knowledge of the Lord who made man in His image. Knowledge of the mind of God is where the cause of hope and life will be found because the word of the Lord is established upon His promises that never fail. Men will try to keep their word to other men and fail more times than succeed. When the Lord speaks a word of promise it is sure, steadfast and unmovable. God has never failed in any promise (good and bad) He has made and the testimony of His word proves it. As the psalmist crafts his psalm about the law of God he remembers when he faced affliction he reflected upon the hope he had given to the word of God and it delivered him from the pains of his suffering. Life is found in meditating on the words of the Savior. Proud men afflict the author but he turns to the word of God for his trust. Looking back into the stories of old the heart is established upon the firm promises of God because they are true and righteous. From the Garden of Eden to the flood of Noah and the incredible promises to Abram, the Lord God has kept His promises and kept His word. What better foundation to build a life of trust upon than secure the anchor of faith to the word of God.

The tragedy of the wicked is the belief they can save themselves apart from the word of God. When men begin to take the presence of God out of their lives they remove the only hope and life man has. It is like trying to survive without air or to remove all the blood that flows in the veins. Man cannot live without the word of God and yet the life-giving power of His law is rejected for the failed philosophies of carnal man. The psalmist could see the mistakes the wicked made in forsaking the law of God. They were not happy. There was no joy in their lives. All the puny efforts made by the wicked to save themselves apart from the law of God failed and failed miserably. Generations upon generations try to come up with a better plan than the word of God and find their knowledge is as limited as the knowledge of the ancients. The word given to Abraham in the early days of the earth is as true in the modern day of technology and science. His statues are true and everlasting and the wisdom of man is always failing. History bears this truth as clearly as the revealed word of God.

God’s word brings fulfillment and joy. The statutes of God are words that should fill the heart as a song of praise. From early childhood His word should be embedded into the soul of man so that he will know and understand the hope found in trusting the Creator and Maker of all things. Meditating on the word is the joy of the heart as the name of God is remembered day and night. Keeping the law of God is the will of man bending to the mind of his Creator so that he can find hope and life. Treasuring the word in the heart will give man the answers to life and death and what lies beyond the valley of death. There is nothing in the wisdom of man that has seen the other side of death than the word of God. Only through the knowledge of God’s word can man see where he came from and why he is here. No other book will answer those questions and bring hope and life to the soul of man than the word of God. Following the precepts of the Lord will bring the only happiness a man will find in life. Every effort to deny the message and live apart from the commandments of the Lord will end in misery and hopelessness. Let the word of God give you life and you will find hope that is without measure.